For the Record

API: Most News Organizations Block Digital Subscription Cancellations:

Only 41% of U.S.-based news publishers "'make it easy' for subscribers to cancel their subscriptions online, according to a new survey from the American Press Institute," Laura Hazard Owen of NiemanLab reported Monday. The survey, which encompassed responses from 526 news organizations ("[including] publishers big and small, newspapers and digital-only, nonprofit and for-profit") also "found some retention tactics that were extremely common: 90% of publishers surveyed encouraged new subscribers to sign up for their newsletters, 89% use analytics to track what subscribers as a whole are reading, and 86% track data about which digital content online users engage with." Consumers also are "less likely to be able to cancel online than you are to get a please-stay pitch from a customer service rep on the phone," with 60% of news organizations maintaining customer service representation for their subscribers.

Google's 'Privacy Theater':

Although Google's recent decision to "remove third-party cookies from the Chrome browser" without implementing a replacement mechanism was widely lauded by consumers, several professional online privacy experts caution that the company's Federated Learning of Cohorts proposal to split users into smaller demographic cohorts "could actually make it easier to 'fingerprint' them—using information about someone’s browser or device to create a stable identifier for that person," according to Gilad Edelman of Wired. "This doesn't deal with the underlying problem of surveillance capitalism," said Ashkan Soltani, a former chief technologist at the Federal Trade Commission. “It still incentivizes the exchange of personal information. It still incentivizes the harvesting of personal information. All of that is unchanged. The externalities around things like clickbait or around things like controversial content to generate more clicks and views, misinformation—all of those questions are still present and not affected." 

Pandemic 'Supercharged' Digital Advertising's Big Three:

According to a "provisional analysis" by ad agency GroupM, digital advertising's Big Three—Google, Facebook and Amazon—"collected the majority of all ad spending in the U.S. last year" for the first time, Keach Hagey and Suzanne Vranica of The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. “These companies that are data-science-driven get stronger and faster with a tailwind of usage—and Covid was a hurricane,” said Tim Armstrong, a former Google executive and AOL chief executive. However, while the triopoly "increased their share of the U.S. digital-ad market from 80% in 2019 to a range approaching 90% in 2020," it remains unclear if the platforms will "continue to increase their market share gains at this rate" amid the vaccine rollout and easing of lockdowns.

Veteran Local Publisher Opens N.C. Journalism Startup:

Veteran Whiteville, N.C.-based newspaper publisher Les High "has started a nonprofit journalism center that will cover stories in southeastern North Carolina backed by a three-year, $495,000 grant from the Winston-Salem-based Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust," David Mildenberg of Business North Carolina reported Thursday. The Border Belt Reporting Center "will hire full-and part-time journalists to write in-depth stories about education, health and other key public policy issues affecting Bladen, Columbus, Robeson and Scotland counties" in addition to collaborating with newspapers in the region. “Reporters at small newspapers typically don’t have time to pursue investigative stories," said High. "We'll help provide that capacity. We'll provide context and analysis of these issues and highlight the influencers who seek to bring about change." High "will remain publisher of The News Reporter in Whiteville and its nrcolumbus.com website while serving as interim editor of the center."

Incoming Teen Vogue Editor Resigns Amid Racist Tweets:

Incoming Teen Vogue Editor in Chief Alexi McCammond has resigned from the job after staff members "publicly condemned racist and homophobic tweets" McCammond posted a decade ago, Katie Robertson of The New York Times reported Thursday. “After speaking with Alexi this morning, we agreed that it was best to part ways, so as to not overshadow the important work happening at Teen Vogue,” Stan Duncan, the chief people officer at Condé Nast, said in an internal email. McCammond, 27, "established herself as a prominent political reporter" for Axios last year and also was was named the emerging journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists in 2019.

Vox Explores Podcast Spinoffs:

Vox Media "is testing out how one popular podcast can be an incubator for more audio shows not tied to the news" after revenue doubled across the Vox Media Podcast Network in 2020, Sara Guaglione of Digiday reported Wednesday. "Unexplainable," a weekly science podcast that launched last week, builds upon the media company's "explainer" franchise, which also includes the daily "Today, Explained" news podcast and "Explained," a Netflix series. "The generic nature of ‘news’ is waning," said Albert Thompson, managing director of digital agency Walton Isaacson, as advertisers consider avoiding news and politics-centric content in favor of historical and science-oriented podcasts. “It's not strategic. Too much ambiguity there. Everyone tells you ‘news’ has the audience. Sure, but do they have the consumer I want?”

Substack Pro Announcement Spurs Departures:

Substack "has lost several high-profile writers in recent days" after writer Jude Ellison Sady Doyle "penned a post accusing the newsletter platform of offering financial incentives to writers" to lure them to its secret Substack Pro program, "including several whose politics have been condemned by those in marginalized communities," Mark Stenberg of Adweek reported Wednesday. Co-founder Hamish McKenzie's admission of the program in a follow-up blog post "set off a chain reaction, as questions about the editorial impartiality of the newsletter service led a number of high-profile Substack writers to leave the platform in solidarity with the transgender community." Tech journalist Casey Newton, who has written for the platform, believes that the departures may offer incentives for its competitors. "If I were Substack […] I would lean all the way away from the culture war — and toward building products and services that generate more revenue, for more people, than anyone else does," he said. “Because if Substack doesn't, someone else will. And it might just be Mark Zuckerberg.”

Facebook Explores Paid Contributors for Publishing Platform:

Facebook "will soon begin testing partnerships with a small group of independent writers for its new publishing platform," Sara Fischer of Axios reported Tuesday. The platform, which contains templates for both websites and newsletters, will be "free-to-use and [...] integrated with Facebook Pages," allowing journalists and other commentators to publish live videos and status updates. Its launch follows Twitter's acquisition of newsletter platform Revue and LinkedIn's decision to begin a contributor program amid the recent proliferation of newsletters by independent writers.

Wikimedia Launches Enterprise Division:

The Wikimedia Foundation "which operates the Wikipedia project in more than 300 languages as well as other wiki-projects," has announced the launch of Wikimedia Enterprise in an attempt to "rebalance its relationships with Google and other big tech firms like Amazon, Facebook and Apple," Noam Cohen of Wired reported Tuesday. The platforms, which are currently negotiating with the subsidiary, previously utilized Wikipedia content for free under Creative Commons licenses. As part of the initiative, a "free, albeit clunky option will still be available to all users, including commercial ones," Cohen added. 

Fortune Union Begins Work Stoppage:

The Fortune Union began a 24-hour work stoppage Tuesday morning, citing a "[subverted] bargaining process" and alleged violations of labor laws, according to Angela Fu of Poynter. The union, which represents 35 employees at the publication, also has filed "six unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board." Negotiations between the union and Fortune began in November 2019. "We are withholding our labor for 24 hours because it’s important that management remembers what our value is, what our labor is worth, and that we make this publication great," said unit first vice chair McKenna Moore. “We have a seat at the table, and they have to listen."